McDonald’s Is Making Its Biggest Menu Change to Date

While we’ve long accepted that it may be freezing outside, we’re not OK with eating prefrozen food when it’s avoidable.

Except it’s often not. Sure, fast food and affordable food is convenient, but it often makes some unfortunate sacrifices, like reheated frozen meals. But that’s about to change — McDonald’s announced today that from now on, Quarter Pounders in every U.S. store except for ones in Hawaii and Alaska will be made with fresh, not frozen, beef. This change will begin in May.

“The switch to fresh beef quarter-pound burgers is the most significant change to our system and restaurant operations since All Day Breakfast [in 2015],” said McDonald’s USA President Chris Kempczinski.

Consumers have been looking for healthier choices for a while now, which is why plant-based items and fresh juices or water vs. soda have begun to make increased appearances on fast-food value and kids menus. McDonald’s has already gotten rid of antibiotics from its chicken nuggets, added fruit options and removed soda from the Happy Meal.

Other fast-food spots, like Burger King, Wendy’s or Shake Shack, already use fresh meat in their burgers, so this was a change a long time coming. As for how the new burgers will taste, we’re excited to find out — but we imagine there’s no way this won’t be an improvement. Let’s hope pricing doesn’t reflect the new high-quality options, though, as this will absolutely be a costly change for the brand, and it’ll be hard not to pass those costs on to the customer.